News Release

2011-08-15
Helena, MT—Thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC in January 2010, attack ads, incendiary fliers, promotional ads, robo-calls, and radio spots have become commonplace during election campaigns. Sometimes the sponsors are clearly identified—and sometimes they are not, operating independently of a candidate's campaign. The spending that can be tracked provides an interesting overview of how independent political spending has changed since Citizens United. Two new reports by the National Institute on Money in State Politics provide an interesting overview of how independent political spending in Arizona and Alaska has changed since corporations and unions were permitted to spend unlimited amounts of money from their general treasuries to advocate for or against candidates.

The reports chronicle the independent spending from 2006 through 2010 in Arizona and Alaska, respectively. Researchers identified top spenders in each of those elections, which races were targeted, and how much was spent.

Numbers show that independent spending on 2010 elections in Arizona was more than double the last comparable election in 2006. From 2006 through 2010, just six spenders accounted for more than half of the $5.5 million spent collectively. The Arizona Democratic Party was the single largest independent spender in the study period, at just over $800,000. Spending by union-affiliated committees was 26 times more in 2010 than in 2006, and although no business corporation reported any direct independent spending, such corporations increased their giving to independent expenditure committees tenfold over the same period.

Independent Spending in Alaska, 2006–2010 shows that from 2006 through 2010, entities and individuals independently spent $2.6 million targeting ballot measures and nearly $1 million targeting candidates. Of the $1.2 million spent in 2010, nearly $1 million of that targeted candidates; while all but $158 of $2.5 million spent during the three previous elections targeted ballot measures.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan National Institute on Money in State Politics collects and analyzes campaign contribution information on state-level candidates, political party committees, and ballot committees. Its free, searchable database of contributions is online at FollowTheMoney.org.